SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/6/2016 9:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus Intro. To John 12:35-50
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 12:35-50
Message of the verses: “35 So Jesus said to them, "For a little
while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that
darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know
where he goes. 36 “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you
may become sons of Light." These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and
hid Himself from them.
“37
But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not
believing in Him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which
he spoke: "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF
THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?" 39 For this reason they could not believe, for
Isaiah said again, 40 “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART,
SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND
BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM." 41 These things Isaiah said because he saw
His glory, and he spoke of Him.
“42
Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the
Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of
the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval
of God.
“44
And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, does not believe in
Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 "He
who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. 46
"I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes
in Me will not remain in darkness. 47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not
keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to
save the world. 48 “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one
who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. 49 “For
I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has
given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. 50 “I know that His
commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the
Father has told Me.’”
I
want to start at the end of John MacArthur’s introductory commentary on these
verses and then go back and quote from several other people who talk about what
this section is all about and that is the long-suffering of God. MacArthur writes “Verses 35-50, which record
Christ’s final appeal to Israel, are a summary of His entire public
ministry. For more than three years,
Jesus had presented Himself to the people of Israel as the Messiah and
proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom. He
had substantiated His claims by teaching with power and authority unrivaled by
anyone before Him (Matt. 7:28-29; Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32; John 7:46). He had also performed miraculous works that
no one else had ever done (John 15L24).
Even so, throughout His ministry Jesus had faced unbelief, hatred,
hostility, and rejection, particularly from Israel’s religious leaders. That unbelief and rejection would soon reach
its zenith at the cross.
“This
poignant passage records the Lord’s final call to belief, uncovers the fatal
causes of unbelief, and lays out the fateful consequences of both belief and
unbelief.”
Now
as I mentioned we can see in these verses God’s long-suffering, which is one of
His attributes and so I want to quote from some people who have for a long time
been with the Lord in heaven, but before they left this earth they were
wonderful servants of the Lord.
Charles
Spurgeon spoke the following in a sermon entitled “God’s Longsuffering: An Appeal to Conscience.” “We have waited for [our Lord’s] footfall at
the dead of night, and looked out for him through the gates of the morning, and
expected Him in the heat of the day, and reckoned that He might come ere yet
another sun went down; but He is not here!
He waits. He waits very, very
long. We he not come?
“Longsuffering
is that which keep Him from coming. He
is bearing with men. Not yet the
thrunderbolt! Not yet the riven heavens
and the reeling earth! Not yet the great
white throne, and the day of judgment; for He is very pitiful, and beareth long
with men! Even to the cries of His own
elect, who cry day and night unto Him—He is not in haste to answer,--for He is
very patient, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”
“The
godly Puritan preacher Stephen Charnock described God’s forbearance with these
words: ‘Men that are great in the world
are quick in passions, and are not so ready to forgive an injury, or bear with
an offender, as one of a meaner rank. It
is a want [lack] of a power over a man’s self that makes him do unbecoming
things upon a provocation. A prince that
can bridle his passion, is a king over himself, as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger, because [He is] great
in power: he hath no less power over Himself
than over His creatures.’”
One
more quote from Arthur W. Pink: “His
wondrous is God’s patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high
hand. The Divine law is trampled under
foot and God Himself openly despised. It
is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly
defy Him. Why does He not suddenly cut
off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and
Sapphira? Why does He not cause the
earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of His people, so that, like
Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit? And what of aspostate Christedom, where every
possible form of sin is not tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy
name of Christ? Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such
abominations? Only one answer is
possible: because God bears with ‘much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for God’s long-suffering, and
when I studied this attribute a while ago the author stated that His
long-suffering is mainly for those who are believers. When I want the wrath of God to come on those
who are destroying our country I have to think of the sins that I commit and therefore
I have to think that He could very well destroy me too.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I want to be thankful for God’s longsuffering.
Memory verse for today: (Romans 6:13): “13 and do not go on presenting the members
of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves
to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “At Jesus’ ascension” (Acts.
1:11).
Today’s Bible question: “Who said ‘Intreat the Lord, that He may take
away the frogs from me?’”
Answer in our next SD.
10/6/2016 11:26 AM
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